SEPTEMBER 2018CIOAPPLICATIONS.COM81. Collaborative Technology--A Great Innovation Requiring Thoughtful ImplementationCollaborative technologies present an opportunity to revolutionize the workplace. Over the last decade, companies have increasingly turned to collaborative applications to facilitate employees to work cooperatively within the same interactive workspace in real time from anywhere in the world. Whereas some collaborative technologies such as Yammer and Slack are one-stop shops for workplace communications, including messaging, screen sharing, and video conferencing, other technologies such as Sharepoint, LeanKit and WorkFront are document, project or enterprise management platforms that allow team members and leaders to work on and oversee individual projects and workflows. Before diving headfirst into implementing collaborative technologies in the workplace, however, a company should give careful consideration to the ease with which information created on collaborative platforms can be preserved and collected should litigation ensue. The weight given to this consideration will necessarily vary from company to company based on each organization's litigation profile. Companies, who are not regularly hauled into court, may prioritize other features of the collaborative technology over the ability to quickly implement preservation or collect potentially relevant information. But for serial litigants, failing to consider these issues prior to adoption may result in significant costs and hassle that greatly outstrip any benefits the technology offers. 2. Preservation and Collection of Information Where a company creates something of value, it is always possible that it could be sued by its competitors, customers, or regulators regarding its product or service. In the United States, when companies reasonably anticipate litigation, they have a duty to preserve information potentially relevant to the claims or defenses in the case. This would include relevant information stored within collaborative applications, such as project files and communications. Preservation means not only that the data should not be deleted, but also that it not be altered once the duty to preserve is triggered. The failure to preserve relevant information upon reasonable anticipation of litigation could subject a party to costly legal sanctions and may significantly impact a company's position in litigation. In some cases, courts IN MY VIEWANDREA L. D'AMBRA, PARTNER AND SUSANA MEDEIROS, ASSOCIATE, NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHTLook before You Leap: Considering the Legal Implications of Collaborative TechnologyAndrea L. D'Ambra
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